KYLE — The Hays CISD Board of Trustees discussed and listened to a presentation at its Jan. 16 meeting for the potential $986,052,733 school bond to come in May.
According to agenda documents, the 2025 bond development process began in April 2024 and the Facilities and Bond Oversight Committee brought its initial ideas in November 2024.
Hays CISD Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright began the night by discussing the “why” of the bond. He noted that it is one of the fastest growing school districts and this is only proven through numbers. Data from the past several years show that the district has grown approximately 1,000 students per year consistently, said Wright, but the demographer estimates that this number will rise to 1,200-1,600 students by next school year, with 25,832 students in the district, while, currently, there are 24,417. In 10 years time, mid-range growth will be at 45,000 students, while fast-growth will be nearly 48,000.
Wright also noted that the tax rate, should the district approve the bond, will not increase.
Chief Operations Officer Max Cleaver presented the board members with several propositions:
Prop A: $469,537,892 for growth, safety and rehabilitation
• Elementary #18 construction
• Design fees for Elementary #19
• Fuentes, Hemphill, Kyle, Tom Green elementary construction, ranging from classroom additions to library upgrades
• Design fees for Middle School #7
• Portables relocation at McCormick Middle School
• Expansion of the sanitary sewer at McCormick Middle School
• Additional driveway and utility expansion at McCormick Middle School
• Classroom additions at Simon and Wallace middle schools
• Additions and upgrades to the high schools
• Purchasing of lands for future school sites
• Roof replacements
• New buses, including 24 for growth and eight with specialized storage compartments
• General district maintenance and repair “I asked for some numbers just recently about the percentage of at-risk kids at Lehman High School and that number is at 58%. Also, Lehman, right there with Hays [High School], is about at a 13% of [special education students]. So, we often maybe look at numbers for students, but we have to remember that for teachers, having this academic expansion is going to relieve some of that burden because these kids really do require individualized support,” said trustee Johnny Flores.
In response to the weight rooms that are being upgraded at the high schools, trustee Courtney Runkle said that she knows some community members may not understand, as they might think that it’s not important because students go to school to learn, but she emphasized that for some students, this weight room and the prospect of working out is what gets them through the school day. So, she is glad that these are still being greatly considered.
Prop B and Prop C: $424,448,826 High School #4
“When you see a $400 million high school, that’s shocking … Prop B and C is an attempt to try to break that high school into sort of a base model that loosely resembles Johnson High School and then, Prop C is a capacity expansion that would sort of bring on the extra stuff,” said Cleaver.
The base high school model, which is slated to begin construction if passed in April 2026, or Prop B, is estimated at $372 million.
According to Cleaver, what Prop B does not include is what is being allocated to Prop C, which is an auditorium, a weight room and locker room expansion, auto-tech, instruction trays, JROTC, additional parking, tennis courts and more for approximately $52 million, which will also bring the school up to the district’s new standard of 2,800 student high schools.
“Those two go together. Optimally, we would hope that they both pass and we would build it all at the same tine, I think we would get our best value there, but this is an opportunity for choice,” he said, after feedback from residents stated that the passing a threshold of $400 million was too high.
For those curious as to why JHS was initially $122 million, trustee Esperanza Orosco stated that the high school was done in phases to meet the needs of the district and eventually, if it was built today, amounted to $443 million.
Flores emphasized that voters should know that the district is continuing to grow and that construction costs are rising, too, so it is more beneficial to start the school off with the 2,800 student space, rather than expanding at a later date.
Prop D: $75,866,015 for fine arts and athletic improvements
• Athletic uniform replacement
• Fine Arts replacements
• Multipurpose activity centers, which includes education, rehearsal and performance space, at all four of the high schools
• McCormick, Wallace and Simon middle school athletic improvements
• Turf at Chapa, Barton and Dahlstrom middle schools Regarding the “big ticket item” of the multipurpose activity centers, Athletic Director Lance Moffett noted that the University Interscholastic League (UIL) stated the schools may be required to use Wet Bulb thermometers, which take into account precipitation, humidity, wind speeds and temperature to determine the heat stress. If above 92 degrees, said Moffett, it is classified as a class three, meaning that practice cannot be held outside. If between 90 and 92 degrees, students can practice one hour at a time and for two hours at a time between 87-90 degrees.
The most impacted sport was team tennis, as they play on concrete and often had matches scheduled at 4:30 p.m., which often had high temperatures.
“I think it contributes greatly to keeping our kids safe,” said Moffett. “That’s instructional space for us.”
Staff also clarified that this center will be used by all programs — marching band, tennis, dance, etc. — not just football.
Runkle requested that the athletic department put together some sort of communication, whether that be a video or news release, to relay how this center is useful to the students and what a mock schedule would look like, as residents have been against covered pavilions in the past.
Prop E: $16,200,000 for technology
• Network switches at all campuses, which were purchased in 2014 for the majority of the campuses, but they are only supposed to last for five to seven years
• Uninterruptible power supplies for campuses
• Phone system replacements at all campuses
• Instructional technology devices for all campuses
• Public announcement and sound system placements
• Replace outdated district printshop machines
• Photocopiers for all campuses Alan Duerr, chief technology officer, noted that the biggest item is the instructional technology at each campuses for $5,900,000 because the district learned that the 21,000 Chromebooks that were received during the COVID-19 pandemic will be unusable in three years time, according to Google. So, over a three year period, approximately 7,000 will be replaced each year.
“It’s hard to argue technology, ever. We know we need [these items]; we know we need to stay up to date and we know our systems need to work or nothing works,” said Runkle. ——— According to Chief Communication Officer Tim Savoy, lawyers will begin working on the election order, as a bond must be called by Feb. 14 for it to appear at the May 3 election.
Because this was a discussion, no action was taken. “Our goal is to have a fully complete election order for you to vote up or down on, on the 27th,” concluded Savoy.
The board will meet next on Thursday, Jan. 23. To listen to the discussion, visit bit.ly/4jlZ0TR. To view the bond propositions, visit www.hayscisd.net/bond2025.
